September 2009
1 post
“I, too, have a pet little evil, to which in more passionate moments I am apt to...”
– Henry Hazlitt, Thinking as a Science
March 2009
1 post
Diogenes and the Diamonds-Water Paradox
Famous for being the only philosopher in recorded history who wasn’t insufferably boring, Diogenes of Sinope used a combination of asceticism, sarcasm, and violence to demonstrate to the citizens of Athens their complete lack of virtue.
Diogenes based his Cynical philosophy on action and common sense, rejecting metaphysical constructs and thought “paradoxes”. According to the...
August 2008
1 post
Iconic Icons
The icons on the original Macintosh were simple 32 x 32 grids of black and white pixels. Nevertheless, Susan Kare was able to create some of the most easily-recognizable icons of all time, including a frighteningly realistic Steve Jobs, under these harsh technological restrictions.
Why is it that such simple forms can communicate what an icon represents so efficiently, while high-resolution and...
February 2008
1 post
Spatial
Everyone says the Finder should be more spatial. But that’s a bit vague—what does it even mean? Here’s an everyday example of why spatiality is nice.
I have several folders on my Mac devoted to solely to images from the internet. Since such images usually have gibberish filenames and the content is what’s important, Cover Flow is perfect for viewing these folders in the...
October 2007
2 posts
KotOR: a Case Study
People often ask why nobody plays video games on the Mac. This is a post for those people.
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic has been out for a very long time (Sidenote: The sequel to KotOR is still not out on the Mac and probably never will be). But I did not start playing it until very recently because the game was originally released before the advent of Intel Macs and it was completely...
Making Icon View Work
Daniel Jalkut, developer of MarsEdit, has issued a call for everyone to start blogging. So: If you’re a mere mortal like me, you browse the Finder in icon view. Big icons are easy to recognize, and they let me use Fitts’ Law to click on things faster. Yes, the intuitive simplicity of icon view is truly a wondrous thing. However, getting a file up one folder level is not. You need to...